Welcome to the Dream (A Celeste Cross Book, #1) Read Online Free Page B

She locked eyes on Celeste instantly. It was entirely obvious
that Celeste had been staring at her.
    Celeste turned on her foot,
her comfortable but far too worn sand shoes crunching on the gravel
before she slipped through the door following the others into the
main hall. It was probably the worst thing to do, and no doubt Miss
Redhead now thought that Celeste had been totally spying on her,
but that didn't stop Celeste from speeding up and half jogging to
find the rest of the group.
    My imagination
is getting the better of me. She thought as she skidded to a halt, the tour guide
glancing her way.
    ‘ Hurry up, we're just about to
look at the collection of Solomon's own possessions that were left
to the church when he died,’ the tour guide was mopping his brow
with the rolled up edge of his sleeve.
    The rest of the talk was
about as boring as the first half had been, and by the time it was
over, Celeste practically ran to her car. So much for getting out
of the heat. Apart from that single stone in the center of the
church that had supposedly depicted a demon, the place was entirely
boring. Then again, what had she been expecting? A circus, a
joyride, an adventure? It was an historical tour of an old
sandstone building, not an action movie.
    Celeste ran a sweaty palm
over the thigh of her jeans, trying to dry her fingers so she could
grab the steering wheel properly. For about the
30 th time that day, she rued the
fact that she'd put on jeans this morning. But to be fair, it had
been a chilly dawn when she’d set out.
    She started the ignition,
flicked the air con onto full, twisting the vents until they blew
right in her face. Time to go and get lost trying to find Susie's
house. She thought as
she pulled out from the curb. The other people who had been on the
tour were now making their lazy and languorous way across the grass
outside the church towards an inviting-looking café on the other
side. Celeste had to slow down to be careful not to knock anyone
over. That didn't stop her from darting her gaze to the side and
noting that Miss Redhead was walking back around the flank of the
church in the direction of the graveyard. She was tugging her
mobile phone from her pocket as she walked.
    Weird. Celeste licked her lips, turned
on the radio, grabbed the map that was tucked into the back of the
passenger seat, and pulled it open on her lap.
    If she was lucky she
wouldn't get lost, but Celeste was never that lucky. She had a head
for logic and analysis; she was a programmer. But for some sodding
reason she couldn't read maps. Actually, she could read maps, it
was just that she didn't often bother to. She was the kind of girl
who would ignore a tutorial in any game, preferring to use the
trial and error principle of finding her own way. The kind of girl
that hated to be given advice, and preferred to sort it out solo.
And of course, that meant she was the kind of girl who often got
lost, who gave up on nearly every game she tried, and who made more
mistakes than she cared to admit.
    But Celeste Cross was
comfortable in her own skin, which was all that really
mattered.
     
     

Chapter 3
    Celeste Cross
    It had taken her two hours
to find the house, even though the drive from Gresham City to the
beautiful three-story building was probably only 15 minutes in
total. She'd gotten lost on every single side road she'd found. At
one point she'd accidentally taken a wrong turn and had come across
a military base. Fortunately she'd had the good sense to turn
around the second she'd seen the massive, gated off area over the
crest of the hill.
    According to the research
she'd done, Gresham City had several military bases, one army and
one Navy. Apparently it was a sweet spot strategically, or
something like that. The rocky spruce-covered slopes of the
mountains around the City were used for training, and she'd come
across more than a couple of roads that had sodding great big signs
and boom gates telling her to turn back before she